Love and Family
by elsiecarson
Summary: A little AU Hyacinth actually enjoys spending time with her family. The 4 sisters are getting along and the family is spending a lazy day together. please r&r!
1. Shock

Hyacinth, Daisy, Violet, and Rose are all sitting in Violet's front room having tea while Richard, Onslow, Bruce, and Daddy are in the kitchen. Hyacinth is very relaxed for once in her life. She likes spending time with her sisters. Daisy and Hyacinth start talking about their kids. Hyacinth tucks her feet under her.

"Sarah is doing well, but I still worry about her. She is too much like me. I wanted her to do better than I did in life." Daisy says with a heavy sigh.

"At least you and Hyacinth both had children! My husband was so busy cross-dressing that he didn't have time to give me children! Bruce is a useless excuse for a man, except that he's so hard working!" Violet says angrily.

"Richard isn't useless as a man, at all, actually, but I was useless as his wife. After Sheridan was born Richard and I talked about having more children. Richard wanted to have more children, but I was so enthralled with Sheridan that I wouldn't even consider having more children at that point. I should have. I was a devoted mother, but by doing that I practically destroyed my relationship with Richard. Maybe if we'd had more children Richard wouldn't have been so jealous of the relationship Sheridan and I had and he would have had a better bond with the child we decided to have." Hyacinth says sadly. Richard is standing in the doorway and hears most of Hyacinth's conversation with her sisters. He gasps behind her and the four sisters turn around sharply. "Richard, Hyacinth says standing up.

"Hyacinth," Richard says setting his beer down and walking slowly towards her. "I didn't know you felt that way. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, we weren't exactly having any serious conversations at that point. I couldn't even find the right time to tell you the truth." Hyacinth says honestly.

Richard opens his arms and Hyacinth rushes into them. Richard holds her tightly for the first time in many years. She turns her face towards Richard's neck and breathes in. She slips her arms around Richard's waist. Her sisters are aghast at her behaviour. Normally she's so reserved that even her own sisters can't read her emotions. Richard's hands run down Hyacinth's back and come to rest just above her bum. "Come and sit with me." Richard says leading Hyacinth over to the sofa. Violet and Rose shift down on the sofa to make room. Richard puts his arm around Hyacinth's shoulders and Hyacinth sinks her head onto Richard's chest.


	2. We Didn't Fail

"Why aren't you like that with me?" Daisy asks smacking Onslow's chest when he approaches her. She's watching her elder sister and her husband intently.

"Because you're not like that with me." Onslow says slumping into an armchair.

"Hyacinth's not usually like that with Richard! He still tries to be romantic with her when he gets the chance. You're so unromantic, Onslow!" Daisy says angrily.

Hyacinth smirks into Richard's chest. Daisy's quite right; normally she's not this romantic with Richard. She hasn't actually seen Bruce yet and when she look up she's happy to see he's actually wearing men's clothes. Hyacinth happily cuddles up closer to Richard and puts her arm around Richard's waist. Daisy and Onslow may not be getting along and Bruce may be a cross-dresser, but Bruce and Violet seem to be getting along at the moment. In fact, Bruce is sitting on the arm of the sofa, next to Violet. Hyacinth wishes Sheridan were here to spend time with his family.

"Hyacinth, you look so relaxed and comfortable. It's really nice to see. You and Richard look so happy right now." Violet says with a big smile.

Daddy comes into the sitting room and is surprised to see Hyacinth sitting draped elegantly across Richard's chest. "Hyacinth, you shouldn't be sitting like that with man! It's not proper! You should know that!"

"It's alright, Daddy, we are married! There isn't anything improper going on." Hyacinth says trying to trigger her father's memory which is sketchy at the best of times.

"How long have you been married?" Daddy asks with confusion.

"Yes, how long have we been married, Richard?" Hyacinth asks teasingly. She wants to know if he remembers.

Oh no, Richard thinks, she'll jump all over me if I'm wrong, but if I'm right she'll praise me forever. He thinks very carefully before he speaks. "We've been married 34 and a half years and our anniversary is in 4 and a half months." Richard finally says confidently.

"Oh Richard, you do know exactly how long we've been married! That makes me feel so happy! It makes me feel important." Hyacinth says after kissing Richard's cheek.

"You are important to me Hyacinth. You've been with me for every major milestone in my life. There isn't a more important person in my life next to you." Richard says as he turns Hyacinth's face towards him and kisses her on the lips.

"I can't stand it! You're never this lovey-dovey with each other. What the hell is going on?" Onslow shouts in frustration.

"I suppose that when I heard Hyacinth say that she would have liked to have more children my heart broke for her. We may not always be outwardly demonstrative, but I love her with all my heart. To hear that she felt unfulfilled as a mother and a wife makes me feel like I've failed her as a husband. I was supposed to protect her and make her life perfect and I couldn't." Richard says holding Hyacinth tightly. Tears trail down Hyacinth's face and smudge her make-up. Richard reaches into an inside pocket and passes Hyacinth his handkerchief. She dabs her eyes trying not to spread her make-up all over her face.

"Richard you didn't fail me! I just didn't speak up when I decided I would like more children. I wasn't honest with myself and you. I'm sorry that I cost you the family you so desperately wanted. I was selfish and I'm sorry I disappointed you. We became so disconnected after that decision not to have more children. I feel like I failed with Sheridan because of the way he's turned out." Hyacinth says giving Richard his handkerchief back.

"Hyacinth, you didn't fail as a mother, but I gave up as Sheridan's father." Richard says trying to hold his emotions in.

"Neither of you failed as parents! If anyone failed as parents it's Onslow and I. Stephanie ran off with a gypsy and got pregnant. At least Sheridan is only gay. He hasn't ruined his entire life!" Daisy says angrily. She can easily get frustrated with her elder sister.

"Oh gosh, let's stop talking about all this. It's depressing!" Hyacinth says trying to lighten the mood. "Are we going out for dinner or shall us four girls get started on dinner in the kitchen?"

"Let's stay in. There's lots of food in the kitchen we can use for dinner." Violet says and the four sisters head to the kitchen to cook.


	3. Drink?

"Richard you look like you could use a drink." Bruce says as he watches his brother-in-law sink his head into his hands.

"I certainly could. Can I get a whisky and soda, please?" Richard says quietly.

"I haven't seen you two be so open and emotional with each other since Sheridan was born. I hope it means that your relationship is back on track." Bruce says as he passes Richard his drink.

"I hope so too. I wasn't prepared to hear what Hyacinth said to her sisters. I also wasn't prepared for the tears the came flooding out of her. I still can't take it when she cries. She's not usually so emotional in front of her family. She surprised me." Richard says sipping his drink.


	4. Dinner Prep

"Violet can I borrow an apron? I don't want to get anything on my dress." Hyacinth asks as she smoothes her hair.

Violet tosses Hyacinth an apron with a smile on her face. "Hyacinth your husband is being so sweet with you! Did you know Richard was standing there when you were speaking?" Violet asks cheekily.

"No, I didn't know he was standing there, but I'm not upset that he knows. He needed to know. Did you know he was standing there listening to me?" Hyacinth asks as she goes to the fridge to check on what kind of meat they can make for dinner.

"We may have known he was there. We wanted you and Richard to be as close as you were when you first got married. We wanted you back." Daisy says cheekily.

"You knew he was standing there and you let me keep talking! How could you?" Hyacinth asks slamming the door to the freezer.

"You just said that you're glad he knows about the situation! Don't take it out on us!" Rose yells at her eldest sister.

"You're quite right, it's important that Richard knew that secret that I'd been holding on to. Sorry I snapped at you. Should we do a pork tenderloin for dinner?" Hyacinth asks as she calms down.

"Pork tenderloin would be great. It's such a tender meat. Should we do sweet or savoury tenderloin?" Violet asks as she looks in the pantry.

"We could do a mix of the two. I know a great recipe for peach and mustard glazed pork tenderloin. It's gotten rave reviews at dinner parties." Hyacinth suggests.

"That sounds great. What vegetables should we do with the pork?" Violet asks as she pokes her head into the fridge. "We have asparagus, leeks, carrots, beets, and potatoes to work with.

"Why don't we red wine steamed leeks, honey mustard glazed carrots, and garlic mashed potatoes?" Hyacinth suggests.

"I don't know if honey mustard carrots will work. What if do the carrots and the leeks in red wine? Rose counters.

"That sounds like a better plan, Rose. We want the tenderloin to be the star. What about apple pie for dessert?" Violet asks as she looks in the fridge.

"I love apple pie! Apples are such a good companion with pork anytime." Daisy says excitedly.

"I think you make the best pastry Daisy, so we'll put you in charge of making the pie. Hyacinth can make the pork. I'll do the leeks and carrots and Rose can do the garlic mashed potatoes." Violet decides.

"Daisy does make the best pastry. She always has. Mummy always said that. It made me so jealous." Hyacinth says taking the fresh pork tenderloin out of the fridge.

"Yes, but you make better bread, Hyacinth. Mother was always so disappointed in my bread." Daisy says as she goes to the pantry to collect the ingredients for pastry.

"Can you get the peach jam and the dry mustard for me Daise?" Hyacinth asks as she grinds fresh salt and pepper on the tenderloin.


	5. Sports and Snacks

Back in the sitting room the men are on their second drinks and have turned on a cricket game. The brothers-in-law get along quite well. They're enjoying their casual time with each other. "Oh, what was that? That was a stupid move!" Onslow yells angrily. He gets very passionate about sports.

"Remind me how to score cricket. It's been a long time since I've watched a match." Bruce requests.

"Oh Bruce, don't lie! The truth is you have absolutely no interest in spots. The TV was on a fashion station when we turned it on." Onslow teases.

"Fine, tell me how to score cricket then. I'm so confused just listening." Bruce asks taking the teasing in stride.

"There's too many rules for scoring to explain it before the end of this match." Onslow says bending forward and watching intently. "We'll explain during the next match."

Hyacinth pokes her head into the sitting room." Can I get you gentlemen a snack? We're all rather busy in here, but I can take a few minutes out?"

"You don't even have to make us anything, Hyacinth. In the pantry there's a big bag of pretzel bites. If you just drop those into a bowl we'll be just fine." Bruce gives Hyacinth directions.

"All right, I'll be right back with that. Richard, please tell me Daddy isn't drinking. You know how he gets when he's drinking." Hyacinth whines.

"Of course he's not drinking. It's a non-alcoholic beer." Richard smiles at his wife.

Hyacinth walks back to the kitchen and smiles at her sisters. "The men seem to be enjoying being together. They're hungry though." Hyacinth walks over to the pantry and pulls out a bag of pretzel bites. She pulls out a bowl and pours the pretzel bites into it. She walks back into the sitting room and puts the bowl down in front of Richard. "Enjoy everyone." Hyacinth says with a smile. Richard smacks Hyacinth's bum lightly when she's bent over in front of him. "Oi, that wasn't a very nice thing to do! Hands off in front of the family, please!" Hyacinth cries loudly.

"Oh, you love the attention! I think the lady doth protest too much, don't you gentlemen?" Richard says teasingly. His wife doesn't mind being teased, but she protests if she's teased in front of others. Richard grabs Hyacinth's hips and pulls her back towards his lap. "Come here."

Hyacinth lands on Richard's laps and Richard kisses Hyacinth. Hyacinth pushes against Richard's chest. "Stop! Stop! I have to get dinner ready! I've got things to do! I don't have time for this!"

"There are three women in that kitchen. I'm sure they can spare you for a few minutes." Richard says and then continues to kiss Hyacinth.

"Oi, you two! This is a female free sports zone until dinner! No romance!" Onslow yells shielding his eyes.

"Right, now I'm officially off! See you at dinner!" Hyacinth says standing up and kissing the top of Richard's head. Hyacinth walks back to the kitchen.


	6. Lines of Communication

"What happened out there? We could hear you all the way in here." Rose asks when Hyacinth re-enters the kitchen.

"Richard wasn't going to let me come back in here to cook. He wanted me to stay. He's being so sweet!" Hyacinth says with a beaming smile.

"His personality has changed so much since he heard your secret." Daisy says honestly.

"My personality has changed since I found out Richard had heard my secret. I think we'll be a lot closer now that he knows the truth. It makes me appreciate him so much more now." Hyacinth says as a tear trickles down her face.

"Oh, Hyacinth! This reminds of how you looked the first time you told us you'd finally discovered you'd fallen in love with Richard. You were so emotional. Do you remember?" Violet asks as the sisters sit at the kitchen table.

"I'll never forget that moment. I was so emotional. I'd never felt that strongly about another person in my life. I didn't know how to tell you the truth about how we felt about each other. I had enough trouble telling all of you about our first kiss. Richard was so nervous at that moment. I couldn't believe how nervous I was either. I remember every moment of our relationship. Every moment is special between the two of us. I forgot that over the course of the last 30 years. He is the most important person in my life now that Sheridan doesn't live at home anymore." Hyacinth smiles as she thinks back on the days when she was dating Richard.

"You know the moment I remember the most is the first time you told me you loved me." Richard says as he enters the kitchen. "Sorry to interrupt ladies, but the gentlemen wanted to have some more beer. I was asked to come in and get it. I seem to have interrupted my second sisterly moment of the day."

"Do you really remember the first moment I told you I loved you?" Hyacinth asks as she watches her husband pull beer out of her sister's fridge.

"Of course I do. I will never forget that moment walking through the park with the snow falling around us. It must have been just after you told your sisters that you'd realized how you felt about me. I will never as long as I live forget the look on your face when you told me you loved me. I couldn't believe I'd gotten so lucky as to have you fall in love with me." Richard says running his fingers down Hyacinth's cheek.

"I love that story. I didn't know you remembered that moment. You let me borrow your gloves because I didn't bring mine. It was so romantic and I felt so in love with you. You made me feel so loved and I had to tell you what my feelings for you were." Hyacinth whispers.

"I remember that you nearly slipped and fell because you were wearing heels. I had a tight grip on your waist so you wouldn't fall. I was so in love and you looked so gorgeous with the soft, white snowflakes dusting your dark hair and I was enthralled by you." Richard says quietly as he strokes Hyacinth's hair.

Hyacinth blushes and avoids Richard's eye contact for a moment. "You should get those beers into the boys before they get warm and the boys get suspicious.

"I'll be back to talk to you in a minute." Richard says as he picks up the beers.

"Just let me get this pork tenderloin in the oven and then we'll talk until the vegetables need to be cooked." Hyacinth smiles. She has a spring in her step as she moves around the kitchen mixing and heating the marinade for the pork. Richard re-enters the kitchen and sits on a stool to watch his wife. She is so wonderful in the kitchen and Richard loves to watch her. She moves around the kitchen so naturally pulling out pans and seasoning and putting the pork in the pan. He watches as she carefully removes her rings before she plunges her hands into the marinade and spreads it over the pork tenderloin. Hyacinth smiles at Richard as she holds her sticky hands up and carefully turns on the tap to rinse her hands off. She dries her hands and ensures that she puts her wedding rings back on. She hops up on the stool next to Richard and puts her hand on Richard's thigh.

Richard covers Hyacinth's hand with his own. "Why don't we go find somewhere quiet to talk?"

"Alright, we can do that." Hyacinth says quietly. She then turns to her sisters. "Just give me a call when the veggies need to go on. The pork should go on now as 325°F for about 3 hours."

"We'll call you when we need some help. Go have a talk with your husband." Violet says kindly. A roar goes up from the other men in the sitting room. Hyacinth and Richard leave the kitchen hand in hand. "Alright, listen up you two, unless there's a problem in this kitchen we are not interrupting Hyacinth and Richard. They've finally started to communicate and I'm not going to stand in the way of that."

"No, I certainly don't want to interrupt them. They're happy for the first time in many years. It's nice to see." Daisy says agreeing with her younger sister.


	7. Honest Conversation

Richard leads Hyacinth into a small sitting room located at the back of the house. He has one arm wrapped around Hyacinth's waist.

"I can't believe how many memories you have from our early relationship." Hyacinth says as they sit down side by side on the sofa.

"There are some memories I have that I haven't even shared with you. I remember how I felt when I saw you walking up the aisle towards me on your father's arm. I remember every emotion I felt preparing to propose to you and the night I proposed I remember every moment. I have never forgotten those precious moments between us. You made moments so special for me. I remember thinking that I'd gotten very lucky because I didn't deserve you. I forgot that when things weren't going well, and to see you now as a woman so comfortable in herself for the first time in ages, I remembered why I married you and how lucky I am to be with you." Richard smiles and holds Hyacinth gently in his arms. She is beautiful and confident and relaxed.

"I always felt so lucky to be with you. I got out of my crazy household because of you. I remember telling my sisters that you were my favourite person in the universe. You made me feel so confident and happy. You're the reason I'm so confident because I know you love me. I loved the time when we were engaged. Everything was so perfect. I loved that time so much. I loved the time before Sheridan was born when we were first married. We were so considerate of each other and I don't know when I stopped being considerate of you. I was so in love with you. I am still so in love with you. I loved creating a home for us in that flat that we started out in. I wish we could go back to that time. We were so close then, but I feel like we're getting back to the way I felt then. I blame myself really." Hyacinth has always blamed herself for the way things have turned out between them. She has her hand halfway up Richard's thigh and is playing with the seam on the outside of his pants.

"I feel the same way. I feel so much closer to you after today. I feel much more like things have gone back to the way they were before Sheridan was born. Today has been wonderful for both of us. I feel much more confident about our relationship after today. Your sisters have been lovely. They've been very helpful. I've been comfortable around them again. I know you always felt lucky to end up with me, but I was equally lucky to end up with you. I remember how stunning I thought you were when I first met you. I remember telling my parents that I'd never felt the way I felt about you. You and I seemed so perfect together then and we can be that way again. We're so close to being back to that way after today. You and I used to be able to tell each other everything and I want to be able to do that again. I miss being able to talk to you, but I feel like I can now." Richard sets his hand on Hyacinth's.

Both Hyacinth and Richard fall silent as they're sitting together. Richard, for the first time in many years, is not uncomfortable in the silence. Normally the silence would have spelled trouble and lots of work for Richard, but now Hyacinth is more relaxed with him than she has been for years. Hyacinth kisses Richard's cheek as she sits there in the silence. "Are you okay?" Hyacinth asks quietly.

"I am now. What are you thinking about?" Richard asks gently.

"All the relationships I've destroyed and damaged are first in my mind. My sisters and I are healing and you and I are healing. I need to heal my relationship with my son, my father, and my friends before I feel like things have really changed for me. I need to prove myself to you and me before we believe the change. I'm scared to go back to who I was when no one could stand me. That's what worries me the most." Hyacinth begins to cry. Her fear is overwhelming.

"I am not going to let you go back to that. We are just going to be like this forever now. I can't go back to the way we used to be." Richard says firmly. He can't let this change and revert to previous behaviour. He's so happy with the ways things are right this moment. He was always afraid to hold Hyacinth publicly before and now he's not anymore. When Hyacinth relaxed today Richard breathed a huge sigh of relief. Hyacinth seems to get sleepy sitting in Richard's arms. "You seem sleepy, darling. Are you alright?"

"It's just been a very emotional day and my emotions do tend to wear me out somewhat. I'm not used to expressing them this much." Hyacinth admits wrapping one arm around Richard's waist. "I think my sisters are trying to give us as much alone time as possible. The kitchen got very quiet though. My sisters are very sweet. This is just how things used to be, when I was still living at home and my sisters were trying to give us as much privacy as possible, but they still wanted to know as much as possible about our relationship. It's so nice to feel so at home with my family again. I can't believe I ever went away from this. I was very foolish."

"You wanted to give your family a better life than the one you had and the best way you saw to distance yourself from that time was to distance yourself from the people who created that past. It's not wrong, but it's not right either. You did what you felt was best at the time. You've learned from your behaviour and I'm quite glad that you've seen that the way you were wasn't helping anyone especially yourself. I do understand where you're coming from. I know sometimes I try to pretend that I have no idea what you're talking about, but I do. We grew up in the same area. I understand the desire to have something better for your adult life than you have as a child. It doesn't matter how hard you think you have to work to get out of the situation you just know you want out so badly, but it's so easy to go to the other extreme without realizing it too. Both extremes need to be tempered and it's high time we both learned to do so while still being exactly who we want to be. We don't need to be friends with the Major or Mrs Councillor Nugent in order to be who we've always wanted to be. We have to remember how important our family is in our lives no matter how much we feel they don't fit into our vision." Richard kisses the top of Hyacinth's head.

"When did you get so wise? I should have listened to you a long time ago. I could have avoided half of these problems all together. I don't understand why I was okay with not including you in the decisions. You know my family as well as I do and you seem to understand them which is more than I can say." Hyacinth sighs contentedly.

"You know Bruce said earlier that we could stay if we want for a couple of days to get things sorted. Do you think we should? It will give us more time to figure our lives out without the pressure of being back amongst friends. It could really help us I think." Richard suggests to Hyacinth.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I can't believe that Bruce is being so nice. He must like you very much Richard. Bruce never really liked me I don't think. Maybe we can get everything figured out now, so that by the time we go home we're both settled with where everything is between us. Can you call Elizabeth and let her know, so she can pick up our mail? She gets nervous when I call." Hyacinth whispers.

"Of course I'll call her. You stay right here with me though." Richard reaches over the back of the sofa and picks up the portable telephone. "Tell me her number." Richard waits as the phone rings three times before Liz picks up. "Hi Liz, it's Richard." "Yes, we're having a wonderful time. Listen, I have a favour to ask of you, if you're not too busy. Hyacinth and I have decided to stay out here for three, maybe four days, and we were hoping that you wouldn't mind picking up our mail and newspaper for us? You still have the spare key don't you?" "Thanks Liz. This means a lot to both of us." "Why didn't Hyacinth call? Oh well, she's in the kitchen cooking up a storm with her sisters. No men in the kitchen on pain of death." "Thanks Liz, I'm sure we'll have a great time. See you in a few days."

"Why did you tell Elizabeth I was cooking in the kitchen? Why didn't you tell her the truth? You didn't tell her why we were staying." Hyacinth turns and looks very seriously at Richard.

"I didn't think you'd want Liz to know everything. I didn't want to tell her you didn't want to talk to her because I didn't want her to feel worse. Her self-esteem isn't very high anyway. I think that there's still a part of you that doesn't want the world and especially your friends to know the whole situation. We'll keep this to ourselves as long as you want." Richard says sweetly.

"Oh, Richard that's so sweet! You're right, I'm not ready to tell everyone what the situation is with us. I'd prefer to fix everything first and then we can tell everyone why we were away." Hyacinth very rarely, in fact never, admits that Richard is right.

"Wait, did you just say I'm right? You never say that. I like hearing that though." Richard teases.

"Yes, I did just say you're right and you better get used to it because it's not going to change any time soon. You've been right a lot over the years and I haven't been willing to admit it and don't ask why because I can't possibly tell you. Maybe my insecurities have made me want to be right all the time. I don't know. I should listen to you more often. I don't give you enough credit some times." Hyacinth says honestly.


End file.
